Freight Traffic

[TBurke]

Isn\'t Newlywed Foods handled off the Cragin Line by the UP?

[TBurke]

Today (Thursday) the Chicago Terminal switcher was in the yard when I passed by it in the morning and later in the early afternoon though the bridge over the river was open as if ready for a train movement.

Also, Blommer Chocolate had five hoppers on their upper level spur which is the most I can recall.  The bottom spur was taken up by trailers though a couple of weeks ago there was another freight car parked there.

[gordg3]

While I was heading downtown yesterday (Jan. 5) on the Metra Milwaukee District West Line 2232 I observed CP 4440 traveling west on the Bloomingdale Line (just west of Hamlin). No cars in tow.
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[Frank C.]

Chicago Terminal ran to Gooose Island today. Just after YN068\'s power returned to North Avenue Yard the crew spotted cars at Sipi metals, and took one bulkhead flat for Big Bay, and 1 gondola for either finkl or general iron. I had to leave after they went to goose island, but they seem to be running pretty consistantly on mondays now, pics coming soon.

[GM]

I have noticed them switching a large number of gon\'s in the North Ave yard on Saturdays also. One Saturday there were close to 30 gon\'s with loads of scrap steel.

GM

[raisin]

Interesting.  Is Finkl possibly starting to pack up for the move?

[robertmroman]

Could be. Or possibly we\'re seeing a result of the \"cash for clunkers\" program. There were outbound gondolas in the North Avenue yard on Tuesday (3/16) but, judging by the spring compression, I\'d guess they were empty. So somebody is taking at least some inbound scrap loads. But I have been seeing a steady stream of gondolas in the North Avenue yard, even if traffic to Goose Island seems to be very occasional.
be well,
bob roman

[Frank C.]

[gordg3]

I started but never finished an almost complete walking tour of the CTR in Chicago. I finished taking photos for the Lakewood Branch recently, but don\'t have the time to go through them all, post, geotag, etc. There are a lot of photos posted at: http://www.pbase.com/gordg3/chicago_terminal_railroad
If anyone would like any of the shots, let me know I will E-mail them to you. My plan is to shortly consolidate this gallery into a few of the more interesting shots.

[TBurke]

Nice shots, especially of the in-house switching operations of Finkl Steel.  It would be great if someone could get access into Finkl to photograph this unique rail operation before they close.

[gordg3]

quote:Originally posted by TBurke

Nice shots, especially of the in-house switching operations of Finkl Steel.  It would be great if someone could get access into Finkl to photograph this unique rail operation before they close.

Thanks Tom. I edited the photos down to the more interesting ones. Again, if anyone needs a copy of any of the photos just let me know.

[JohnColeman]

Around 8am this morning from my passing Metra train I was able to get glimpses of a very unusual looking train in the North Ave. Yard.  

From what I could see, it had a blue locomotive on both ends, with markings I did not recognize. Not UP or CTRR for sure.  In between the locomotives were 4-5 black cars that were very strange looking: tall like box cars, but looking almost like pieces of machinery.  I couldn\'t see very well as there was another train parked between it and my passing train.  It looked as if it was just pulling into or out of the yard as it was moving north very slowly.  

Sorry no pictures.  Anyone have any ideas what it might have been?

[themats]

I\'m going to be around there tomorrow mid-day and will try to get a picture.  Is it only visible from the Kennedy?

[JohnColeman]

Unfortunatly it was gone by Friday afternoon when I passed by on the way home.  Thought I might get lucky and see it or some of the cars on a siding somewhere going north to evanston, but no such luck!

[ray gerard]

she was stopped at mayfair midday friday, covered with grime and included two coaches each with several a/c units on top, a live-on subcontractor?, she didn\'t look like a the machinery that kicks-out and replaces ties, or gauges track, or tests track for weight-bearing, or replaces ballast, my best-guess is she re-treats ties w/creasote and/or treats ballast, much too large to be a weed-killer